Taipei Travel

Forest of being Time, based on Time-Based Media which relies on “time retention techniques” such as carriers and playback mechanisms, attempts to explore the indescribable “liminal/marginal moments” of life and the ambiguous passages “between” here and there that defy categorization. The exhibition's title draws inspiration from Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore, a profoundly existential work that portrays chaos as a forest where space has no specific orientation and time has no significance at all. It belongs to the liminality between life and death, and crevice between reality and dreams. 

Literature, as a reflection of reality, attempts to explore the existential experience of human beings and probes into the collective states of psychology and rites of passage in various societies and cultures. We might well fancy interrogating where the “zone of liminality” is. A zone beyond space and time, unable to be generalized within individuals, social communities, and even, cultural systems. How does it lead us through time, life/death, and various forms of transition and transcendence? Have we ever felt an indescribable trance and tremor at some point in our life, as if being swallowed into a vacuum created by an artist? The exhibition features over ten groups of domestic and international artists, presenting a wide range of artworks including significant pieces from the museum's collection, video art and video installations by international artists, as well as new works specifically created for this project.

With the rising wind, let’s stride into the heart of the forest.